BENGALURU: Asian currencies weakened against the US dollar on Monday as renewed tension in the Middle East sent oil prices surging and revived fears of inflation, while South Korean shares fell over 9 percent to trigger a circuit breaker, led lower by SK Hynix.
The US dollar index crept higher against a basket of major currencies on the day as renewed conflict in the Middle East sent oil prices 4 percent higher, fanning inflation fears as well as the prospect of rate hikes by central banks globally.
Currencies in emerging Asia were on the back foot: the Indonesian rupiah slipped to as much as 18,140 per US dollar, its weakest point in more than a month, while the South Korean won fell as much as to 1,508.9 a dollar.
South Korea’s benchmark equity gauge KOSPI closed nearly 9 percent lower, dragged lower by a sharp 15.4 percent plunge in SK Hynix, the world’s leading AI memory chipmaker, as investors booked profits after a bumper US debut on Friday. Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix’s rival chipmaker, ended 10.7 percent lower.
The KOSPI is now down slightly over 25 percent since its record close on June 22, although it remains one of the top performing equity markets in the world with a 65 percent gain so far this year.
In Malaysia, the ringgit weakened to 4.0770 a dollar, while stocks jumped to a three-week high.
Elsewhere in emerging Asia, stocks in the Philippines fell 0.3 percent, while those in Indonesia gained 0.4 percent.
Singapore’s benchmark index declined as much as 0.7 percent, snapping seven consecutive sessions of record highs.